take your best shot
Email photos for possible
use in this column to
The Douglis Visual Workshops at pnd1@cox.net.

Aphotograph can overcome the limits of memory. A storytelling image can take us back in time to reflect
on what was, rather than what is. And
while a photograph taken many years
ago can easily do this, we can create
contemporary photographs that work
as windows into the past as well.

Here are three such photographs.
Each uses monochrome to interpret
the past in its own way.

Portrait, Scottsdale, Arizona

I was having lunch in a local restaurantwith a tutorial student when I noticedhow the light through the window wasfalling on the face of a man dining ata nearby table. As he turned his headinto profile, the sun illuminated hiswhite hair and beard from behind,making it seem as if he was lost inthought. I made this portrait to takeadvantage of the back lighting’s abilityto abstract the subject by taking awayall color except for the flesh tones inthe forehead. I converted this imageto black and white to make even thosetones vanish, further simplifying theprofile, and making the subject seemmore symbolic not only of thoughtbut also of age. By abstracting himin this way, he refers more to the pastthan the present.